A/N: This was titled 'Chances' but I changed what was going to happen, (not this chapter, this one is the same, only a few mistakes corrected) and wanted to change stuff around, so I deleted it. Fanfiction didn't let me upload for a while, and now it's here, so enjoy!
Oh, I forgot... Sheena may be a little OOC, but not much, Zelos in some parts most definetly will be OOC, in some parts, not all. Just thought I should warn you... don't go flaming me because I didn't warn you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Namco does, if I did, there would be a sequel (at least in the making).
Chapter 1
His Chance
She was sitting at the plaza bench, in the middle-class area. She liked this area, there weren't many nobles who would immediately walk the other direction, nor were there too many common people who would beg for her autograph.
A lot of people could explain why the common people loved their group, and the rich hated them. The nobles made money off of exspheres, and also made money off of half-elf slave labor, both of which were illegal now. The commoners were just happy that there were no sacrifices, or arranged marriages, for they were the ones who were normally chosen.
She looked up, she hated to see it, but those giggles only meant that he was near, and she didn't care to see anyone at the moment. She quickly got up from the bench that she was sitting on, and decided to go to her room, that was probably a better place to read her book.
Suddenly the giggles were replaced by whines, and she knew that she was too late. He had just told them that he would see them later, and walked away, thankfully they never followed him when he said that, they only whined.
She sped up, hoping to get far enough away that he would just forget about it or at the very least that they would be far away enough from the girls so that they wouldn't complain about him being near her, again.
"Sheeeenaaa!" she twitched at his voice, it was too loud, and they might not be far away enough. Luckily she didn't here of the girls, so she stopped.
"Something you need, Zelos?" she said when he came in front of her, and after hugging her from behind.
"I don't believe it, you said my name!" he cried, she flinched again, and did he really have to talk so loud?
"Yes, I did, something you need?" she said, calmly.
"I just wanted to know why I didn't know why you are in town, and how in the world you got stuck in an inn, when you could be in beautiful mansion!" he said, obviously excited, and to her, just a little hyper.
"I just got here, oh three hours ago? And I hate that mansion, it's too big, and cold, I also don't care to be round all of those stuck-up nobles!" she replied. With that, she side-stepped him, and kept walking.
"Oh c'mon, you know you missed me, I'm the beautiful hunk you've been waiting for!" he said, keeping up with her.
Truth was, she did like him, but at the moment she didn't want to talk, she had told Mizuho that she had important business here, but all she really wanted was a vacation. And maybe see him, all right, not maybe, definitely.
"Zelos, how about this? I will go to my inn, spend the night there, and have the alone time that I've been wanting. Tomorrow, I'll be at the town gates at ten, and you can meet me there, the whole day is yours, as long as we stay outside of town, and I promise to not slap you." she had stopped, just so that she could get a good look at his exasperated face, which quickly turned to excitement.
"All right, see you at ten!" he skipped off toward his mansion, and she just smiled.
When she finally finished her book, she took a nice bubble bath, and slept, the alarm set to go off at nine.
She woke about five minutes before the alarm went off, and turned it off. She showered, dressed, and did up her hair, and then went to the gate.
"Good morning!" Zelos stated when she arrived, somehow she guessed that he had been there since nine, at least.
"Hello, so where are we going?" she asked, he probably could pick a better spot than her, and she guessed it wasn't in a town, as he was holding a picnic basket.
"Not far, but we can either walk, or take a rehaird. You choose." he said, smiling, she knew either way that she would most likely be blindfolded, and she figured the shorter the time, the better, or at least, not being seen blindfolded.
"Rehaird." she stated, not even questioning that they were riding one, she had known last night that when she told him that, that he was going to be as close to her as possible. Of course, she wanted it that way, there was a reason she told him she wouldn't slap him. It was like telling him that she truly did like him, and wanted to have a good time, on what she just realized was a date.
"'K." was all he said, then he pulled out the blindfold, "But that means I get to take as long as I want!" how she guessed he would say that, was too obvious.
"That's fine, just let me get on first!" he simply nodded, and on she went. The blindfold came on, and then there was a pause, she wondered what he would do to make sure she couldn't see, but couldn't guess.
Lips touched her forehead, and then she heard his smile. He climbed on in front, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. She wondered how far he thought she would go before, but now she knew that he hadn't even expected that, because he shuddered.
"What's wrong?" she asked, in case there really was something wrong.
"Nothing, I just wasn't expecting that." she hear him say, and because she could, she put her chin on his shoulder, just to make him shudder again.
"Go already!" she said after a minute. He sped off and she could feel his hair brush against her cheek, and giggled, for it was tickling her.
"What is so funny?" he asked.
"Your hair tickles!" was all she said, but it was enough. He reached up, and out his hair over his other shoulder.
"Better?" he asked, she knew he was being nice to her, and that he was trying to make her like him more, but she had thought that she had already shown him that.
So since he didn't quite get it, she guessed where his cheek was and kissed it. He immediately relaxed, and she smiled, there was no need for words.
How long they were up there, she didn't know, but she was content. He landed, and guided her away from the rehaird, and then made her sit down. He went behind her, and tugged the blindfold off.
She saw the ocean, and smiled. "Where are we, exactly?"
"What would be the fun if I told you that?" he asked, still behind her, obviously unsure of what to do.
She looked behind her, to see him standing, and grabbed his hands, and pulled him down. "And I thought it was hard to keep your hands off of me!"
At that he put his legs on either side of her, got as close as he could and put his arms around her, "Happy?" he asked, she only nodded.
She leaned back, and sighed, it was perfect, only problem was that she had no idea what they were going to do the rest of the day. She leaned back and grabbed his hair, and started to comb through it with her fingers.
After watching the waves for probably half an hour in silence, she decided she wanted to talk.
"Zelos?" she asked, and stopped combing through his hair.
"Hm?" he said calmly.
"If you enjoy this so much, why do you hang around all those other girls?" she asked, small talk wasn't exactly her thing.
"Well, before when I was Chosen, I wanted attention that wasn't about being a Chosen. When our journey ended, I was lonely. Being with seven other people and then being with none was hard to do. So I decided some kind of attention was good." he stated.
"Was a Chosen?" she asked, "And you didn't fully answer my question."
"After I got back, I immediately put the church right, and got rid of all my titles. For some reason the King still wanted me to live in the mansion and such, and it's hard to decline the King. So I stayed, and he decided to keep giving me money, I don't know why, but I've been giving to people in the slums, I don't need any more money."
"And the other part of your question, it should be pretty obvious that I didn't know that you liked me this way. So I had no idea that this could be so wonderful." he said, not even getting a little less calm.
"But after today, you'll return to your mansion, hunnies, and other such things, correct?" she questioned.
"I never said that. But I suppose that if you leave tomorrow, and I'm not allowed to join you back to Mizuho, then I guess I'd have nothing better to do." he sighed, obviously sad at the thought.
"Who said I was leaving tomorrow? And you really think Mizuho will accept you? I do accept you, obviously, but they hardly accept me, let alone some one from the King, and is there because of me? For some reason I have to doubt it."
"Maybe, we'll just have to try and see. And besides, you are their future chief, and to become Mizuho, you have to be married into the village. Only Tiga, or your Grandfather could tell me no." he said.
"You seem to have read up on our customs. But what you say is true, Tiga likes me, and grandfather obviously does too. So the only problem is becoming Mizuhoen."
"As I said, just wait and see. You aren't leaving tomorrow, so let's let it rest until then." he said simply dismissing the subject.
"Just to let you know, I still have five days, after today, to be here." she commented.
The silence resumed, and she began to play with the sand, having taken off her shoes a while ago, and rolled up her pants to her knees. She poured the sand on her feet, and smiled at the warmth.
She felt a tugging at her hair, and she knew he was taking it out. She didn't glance back, just took his shoes off, and rolled up his pants, then put sand all over their legs, completely burying them.
He combed through her hair and she moved her legs, still under the sand, closer to his. She began to play with his feet with hers, and he played back, forgetting her hair.
They stopped, and were contented with their legs being intertwined. He resumed playing with her hair, and she his. They ate lunch soon after and then Zelos asked something when they were done.
"Why exactly did you suggest going somewhere?" he asked.
"I wanted to be around you, just not anywhere near those horrible girls. And as I said, I wanted alone time yesterday, but today I figured good company would be nice." she answered.
"Do you... do you think that Lloyd and Colette are done collecting all of those exspheres yet?" he sounded a bit worried, and a little lonely then.
"Well, seeing as how it's been... half a year? I highly doubt it, getting people to give those up, and finding them all will definitely take a while. Maybe in a year they will be, but who knows, it could take ten." she decided, picking her words carefully, "Why?"
"It just seems that it's been longer than that, or maybe shorter, it just doesn't seem like I'm not the Chosen anymore, or that anything has changed, over in Sylvarant area, it may have seemed like stuff changed, but in Tethe'alla it's just all been the same." he said, sounding even worse.
Sheena turned to look at him, his head was bent down, and she would have thought he was crying, if she knew he couldn't be that sad yet.
"Zelos, I think you're trying to hide. I think you want stuff to be the same, and so you see it that way. Stuff is happening all around you, the Church is reforming, the King is trying to rule over Sylvarant as well, and only you could be oblivious to it all." she sighed, and lifted his chin up.
He looked into her eyes for a moment, and then turned sideways, moving his legs from the sand, and crossing them.
"What am I supposed to do? No one thinks I'm capable of anything but fighting, all brawns no brains. The King ignores me, and the Church tries to ignore me, as if I'm going to claim power in it somehow. Stuff is changing, but no one will involve me, I never wanted to be involved before, but had to, but now that I can't be, I'm stuck. And then you said Mizuho might not even accept me, and you guys are probably still moving to Sylvarant. I just... I don't know." he said lowly, and Sheena saw a tear roll down his cheek.
She turned his head back towards hers, and he put his chin down. She again lifted it up, and wiped the tears off. He looked into her eyes again, and Sheena began to speak.
"Zelos, Mizuho is moving to Sylvarant, near the Linkite Tree, and you do have to realize this, Tethe'alla doesn't want you, but I do, and so does Lloyd, and Colette, Raine, Genis, Presea, Regal, and even Kratos. We journeyed with you, and we know what you can do. If I have to, I'll get everybody, and get them all together to show you that." she said, starting to smile.
"But aren't Raine and Genis going around the world, promoting equality, and Lloyd and Colette are traveling for exspheres, and... I think Presea is working in Altimira, with Regal, they're probably working hard to seal the exsphere mine. There is no way you could get us all in the same place..." he put in.
"I knew it, you just want a reunion! But yes, it would be hard, but we just tell Lloyd and Colette to meet us at Altimira, as we've heard there are exspheres there, and Raine and Genis that Half-Elves are being strongly discriminated there. Simple! A few white lies, and it's all set. Oh, and Regal and Presea will have a random day off, George'll help there." she replied.
"Well, someone's mind moves fast. But right now, I just want to enjoy this sunset with you." he said, and Sheena turned to watch it.
Zelos pulled her into his lap, and they sat there in silence, enjoying the sunset. When the sun disappeared, they slowly got up, and went towards the rehaird.
"We don't have to go back now." Sheena said.
"You only said the day, I didn't plan anything else. But we could go to dinner some where, where to then, my lady?" he asked, almost smirking.
"Someone seems to be resuming their usual hyper self, and I think that Luin sounds nice." she said, still having no idea where they were.
"Luin it is, but I think you just want to go there because there is a statue of you there." he smiled, but got onto the rehaird before she could reply.
She climbed on behind him, her arms again wrapped around him, and they took off, they were actually about a mile from the Tethe'alla Bridge, and so it took a while to get there.
The landscape still seemed strange. The worlds had joined on the left side of Tethe'alla, right side of Sylvarant, so that the Triet dessert was in the bottom right left hand corner, Flanoir in the upper right.
They had to fly west a little ways, and they would be in Sylvarant, a bit more, and Luin was there.
They walked about the town, and found a place to eat on the first story of the inn. It was a simple dinner, but even then the people wouldn't let them pay.
When they finally left their tummies were full, and they decided it was late enough to go back.
They went inside through the sewer, as the gates still closed at dark. When they arrived back at the inn Sheena was in, they stopped.
"Goodnight, Zelos." Sheena said quietly. But Zelos didn't reply, he bent in and kissed her, they were there for a while, and then it broke.
"Night Sheena." he whispered, and then left.
Alone in her room she went over what she had said earlier that day, about the reunion, and decided that she wasn't done tonight.